TRAIL RIDGE ROAD

Trail Ridge Road, Rocky Mountain National Park’s heavily traveled highway to the sky. It inspired awe before the first motorist ever traveled it. “It is hard to describe what a sensation this new road is going to make,” predicted Horace Albright, director of the National Park Service, in 1931 during the road’s construction. “You will have the whole sweep of the Rockies before you in all directions.” ~National Park Service

From Kawuneeche Visitor Center at the park’s Grand Lake Entrance, Trail Ridge Road follows the North Fork of the Colorado River north through the Kawuneeche Valley. There are several trailheads along this section of the road, notably the Colorado River Trailhead, which is the western terminus of the road segment closed during the winter.

The road crosses the Continental Divide at Milner Pass (elev. 10,758 ft or 3,279 m) and reaches a maximum elevation of 12,183 ft (3,713 m), near Fall River Pass (elev. 11,796 ft or 3,595 m). Near the highest point on the road is another pass, Iceberg Pass (elev. 11,827 ft or 3,605 m).

Trail Ridge is a high flat spur range extending east from the main range of the Rockies between Fall River in the North and the Big Thompson River in the South. The road follows Trail Ridge from the Fall River Pass near Alpine Visitor Center to the Deer Ridge Junction. ~wikipedia

Rocky Mountain National Park

The map below indicate the location of where the photos below were taken. GPS coordinates from you smart phone photos are very handy when you return from a trip. You can load your smartphone photos into Lightroom and plot out your whole trip. This is exactly why I try to take a photo with my phone every time we stop. Even if there really isn’t anything picturesque…it still plots the course.

We entered RMNP from the east at Estes Park. The photos will flow in order from east to west; A-H. I have yet to travel Old Fall River Road (see video below); it’s on my list for the next visit to CO and RMNP.